Students from Fullerton College march across Chapman Avenue near the college while demonstrating against cuts in the state's education funding Thursday in Fullerton. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Orange County schools are grappling with about $327 million in budget cuts. The chart below will be updated throughout the process to give you the latest information on their progress.

More than 2,300 parents, teachers and students demonstrated against state school budget cuts Thursday afternoon, waving signs and urging cars to honk horns at different sites throughout Orange County.

About 400 demonstrators gathered in Laguna Hills, 200 in Westminster, 150 in Santa Ana and 50 to 60 in Buena Park. Events were held at eight different sites in Anaheim, making it hard to estimate numbers -- though they topped 500.

The day's biggest event, at UC Irvine, drew an estimated 800 students, while 200 more gathered near Fullerton College and about 40 or so rallied and marched at Cal State Fullerton.

The gatherings are being staged as part of a national Day of Action, with events also being held in other California communities and in other states.

Orange County school districts and county Department of Education cut deeply last year as state budget problems undercut funding. The county’s 27 school districts lost some $498 million in state funding last year; in response to the permanent funding downturns, they’re eyeing more than $327 million in cuts for next school year. (Click here for our database on local school cuts.)

So far, they are looking to cut salaries, implement furloughs, increase class sizes and drop summer school and afterschool programs to cut costs. Districts, including Newport-Mesa Unified and Santa Ana Unified, have also already approved cutting a combined 246 jobs.

The University of California and California State University systems have imposed furloughs on faculty and staff, sharply reduced course offerings, turned away thousands of qualified students and raised tuition by more than 30 percent. The cost of attending the state's community colleges has also risen.

Hundreds of teachers, parents and even some students from at least four school districts that serve Anaheim waved signs, pounded on noise makers and shouted to passing motorists – many of whom honked car horns and gave thumbs up out car windows.

The local protesters said budget cuts have gotten so deep that they are severely threatening their ability to provide students with the kind of education that will prepare them to be successful in college and in adulthood.

"These aren't temporary cuts anymore. This is money that is going away and staying away," said Dean Elder, an award-winning science teacher at Anaheim High School and an educator for 25 years.

He marched with about 75 others at Ball Road and Harbor Boulevard, in the shadow of Disneyland.

"We need to have an educated workforce and this is not the way to get there," Elder said.

Ryan Ruelas, a history teacher at Anaheim High, said he hopes that motorists passing by will be more alert to the problems facing education and consider lobbying local and state representatives for change.

"I think a lot of people down here in Southern California just aren't aware enough about what's going on in schools," he said. "We're trying to make them aware – this is affecting their future."

More than 200 people in all stood at each corner of Magnolia Avenue and Ball Road around 4 p.m. At that intersection, teachers were joined by scores of elementary school children, some holding signs that read "Save My Teacher's Job."

"I want people to know that I have a right to an education and I want them to help save my school," said Tatiana Gonzalez, 12, a sixth grader at Maxwell Elementary School in Anaheim's Magnolia School District.

Laguna Hills

About 400 students, teachers and administrators from the Capistrano and Saddleback Valley unified school districts attempted to snare the attention and support of passing motorists at the four corners at Alicia Parkway and Paseo de Valencia in front of the Laguna Hills Community Center.

They held signs saying "SOS -- Save our Schools," "Help our children, no more school cuts" and "No School Left Behind."

Students from Fullerton College march across Chapman Avenue near the college while demonstrating against cuts in the state's education funding Thursday in Fullerton. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Champ Clark, a technology teacher at Garden Grove's Lake Intermediate School, flashes a thumbs-up sign and a smile at passing cars on Beach Boulevard in Westminster on Thursday afternoon. About 200 teachers, students and parents attended the protest, one of a handful that took place across Orange County to protest state budget cuts to schools. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A protester is among hundreds of educators, parents and students across Orange County holding organized protests as districts move forward with plans to lay off hundreds of teachers, and slash millions of dollars in services. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Students raise their arms as as Russell Curry, a former UCI student, recites a rap titled "Fists In The Sky" as protesters rally in a demonstration opposing statewide budget cuts Thursday. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A Fullerton College student puts a sign on her face to protest against education cuts Thursday at the corner of Lemon Street and Chapman Avenue. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Members of the Placentia-Linda Educators Association join with students and faculty organized by United Faculty/North Orange County Community College District to demonstrate for education funding at Fullerton College. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A protester makes a statement with other members of the Placentia-Linda Educators Association, students and faculty organized by United Faculty/North Orange County Community College District to demonstrate for education funding at Fullerton College. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A student in the engineering building watches protesters as they try to coax students away from their classes to join the demonstration. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A Fullerton College band member plays as she crosses Chapman Avenue to join her bandmates who were taking part in a protest against state budget cuts in education. A small collection Fullerton police monitor the situation Thursday. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Members of the Placentia-Linda Educators Association join with students and faculty organized by United Faculty/North Orange County Community College District to demonstrate for education funding at Fullerton College. Hundreds of educators, parents and students across Orange County held organized protests at different location as districts move forward with plans to lay off hundreds of teachers, and slash millions of dollars in services. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Observers watch from a rooftop as protesters march along coaxing UC Irvine students to leave class and join a demonstration opposing statewide budget cuts. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
As the protesters moved into the streets, one throws a shopping cart onto Campus Drive as numbers swell to more than 800 at UC Irvine. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jim Kelly, left, and Julie Rayburn, from Roosevelt Elementary, protest cuts to the education budget Thursday at Ball Road and State College Boulevard in Anaheim. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
Educators and their supporters from Anaheim Elementary Education Association and Anaheim Secondary Teachers Association protest cuts to the education budget Thursday at Ball Road and State College Boulevard in Anaheim. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
Roosevelt second-grade teacher Debbie Stevens walks across State College Boulevard carrying a sign in protest of proposed budget cuts to education Thursday. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
According to teachers, the children in this car are students from an Anaheim school. They were waving in support of the teachers protesting budget cuts Thursday in Anaheim on the corner of State College and Ball Road. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
A passenger in a public bus gives a thumbs-up to a student protester in Santa Ana Thursday as parents, teachers, and students demonstrated against state school budget cuts in different locations throughout Orange County. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Teachers, parents and students protest education budget cuts in Santa Ana. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ikukuri Garcia and his mother, Michelle, joined more than a hundred teachers, parents and students to protest education state school budget cuts. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Students, parents and teachers gathered at the corner of 17th St and Bristol in Santa Ana to protest state school budget cuts. The demonstration is one of several held throughout the school district as they move forward with plans to layoff teachers and slash millions of dollars in services. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jose Velasco, right, a student at Santa Ana College, said he wants to get the word out about budget cuts at the college. He and more than a hundred parents, teachers and students gathered at the corner of 17th St., and Bristol in Santa Ana to protest state school budget cuts. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Parents, teachers, students and the Red Dog shouted "no more cuts. We got dreams," as they demonstrated against state school budget cuts at a rally in Santa Ana on Thursday ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Teachers, parents and students hold up signs along busy Beach Boulevard at Trask Avenue in Westminster on Thursday to protest state budget cuts to public education. The two-hour protest attracted about 200 demonstrators. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Handmade and printed signs protesting state budget cuts to public education lay on the grass at a Garden Grove Unified rally Thursday afternoon. The rally was held along busy Beach Boulevard in Westminster, outside a Wal-Mart just south of the 22 Freeway. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Dora Shaieb, right, a friend of Garden Grove elementary school teacher Lori Adams, left, attends a rally Thursday afternoon in Westminster with her yellow labrador, Eli. Eli wore a sign around his neck that read, "No bones about it, students deserve better." SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rancho Alamitos High School teachers, from left, Ginny Adkins, Bill Welter and Bridget Lockhart hold up signs protesting state budget cuts to public education at a rally Thursday afternoon in Westminster. "We're out here to make people aware of the impending budget cuts that are going to affect everyone," said Lockhart, an English teacher at the Garden Grove school. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A protester stands on a shopping cart as they move into onto Campus Drive, numbers swell to more than 800 UC Irvine students leave class to join a demonstration opposing statewide budget cuts, Thursday, March 4. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNT
Juarez Elementary educator Tammy Cayuela's glasses reflects the sign being held by Julie Torres also of Juarez Elementary as they protested budget cuts Thursday in Anaheim. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
A protestor can be seen reflected in the door of a car waiting Thursday at Ball and State College Blvd in Anaheim. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
Educators and their supporters from Anaheim Elementary Education Association and Anaheim Secondary Teachers Association protest cuts to the education budget Thursday at Ball and State College Blvd in Anaheim. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGI
Students spill into traffic on Campus Drive as protester numbers have swelled to more than 800 at UC Irvine as students leave class to join a demonstration opposing statewide budget cuts, Thursday, March 4. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A Irvine city maintenance worker is upset with protesters for knocking down safety markers as students spill into traffic on Campus Drive. The maintenance worker put them back up himself. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Motorist and Orange Coast College student Cesear Mata of Irvine shows his support with a "High Five" as protesters stop traffic on University Drive in Irvine. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Members of the Placentia-Linda Educators Association, students and faculty organized protest funding cuts. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A large group of protesters and passing by students gather at UCI Thursday afternoon. deb1edeb via Twitter
Protesters march at Cal State University Fullerton, Thursday afternoon. KathyTingTingYu via Twitter
Protesters march at Cal State University Fullerton, Thursday afternoon. KathyTingTingYu via Twitter
Four hundred to 500 students have gathered for a noon rally against statewide public education budget cuts at UC Irvine along Ring Road near the administration building. @hmltn, via Twitter

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